NEIGHBORHOOD REPORT: FLATBUSH: UPDATE;Library Is On Line

The Brooklyn Public Library took a fledgling step onto the information superhighway last week when its Flatbush branch began offering Internet access to the public.

The library system purchased a dozen computers for the Flatbush branch, at 22 Linden Boulevard, with a $150,000 donation from Bill Gates, the chairman and chief executive officer of Microsoft Corporation. Mr. Gates made a virtual appearance at the library over a modem hookup when the computers came on line last week.

The Flatbush branch, open every day but Sunday, is the first of the Brooklyn Public Library system's 60 branches to offer free Internet access to the public. The Business Library in Brooklyn Heights allows only library staff to search the Internet. SOMINI SENGUPTA